Victims’ movements have driven democratization processes in different parts of the world and, as Gready and Robins have observed, have received credit for the creation of the contemporary discourse regarding Transitional Justice. In the case of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (Madres de Plaza de Mayo) and the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo (Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo), both in Argentina, women searching for the whereabouts of their children and grandchildren used to come together in the center of power in Buenos Aires, wearing their white headscarves and carrying huge placards with the faces of their missing relatives, and demand their return. Indeed, these women became some of the most visible opponents of the Argentinian regime and gained international recognition with their marches and protest actions. It has even been said that the Argentinian process of accountability has been mainly the result of civil society action and especially action by those grassroots women’s organizations. It is a good example of a case in which public pressure has acted as an important catalyst for Transitional Justice measures and in which victims’ families and human rights organizations have progressively been able to mobilize politicians and judges to seek accountability for past atrocities.

The efforts of the Khulumani Support Group, in South Africa, mark another leading case. That group was formed in 1995 by survivors and families of political violence under the Apartheid regime. The group was founded on the premise that encouraging people to “speak out” (the word Khulumani means “speak out” in Zulu) about the atrocities of the past was psychologically beneficial. Moreover, their strong focus on advocacy worked to keep the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the reconciliation process victim-oriented. Subsequently, Khulumani has grown from just being a support group concerned with helping members to engage with the TRC to being a movement concerned with issues of social justice and Transitional Justice as broadly defined, and has declared that its goals are to end impunity, to ensure reconciliation, and to create agency in place of dependency.